A red-shirt freshman, Spellman didn’t see any game time in the 2016-2017 season and instead used that period to drop nearly 50 pounds from his 6-foot nine-and-a-half-inch frame. That effort took him from 25 percent body fat to a mere 10 percent.

“It has helped me tremendously with my confidence in playing, my confidence in running the floor,” he said, “doing things that my teammates ask of me.”

The 20-year-old says that the weight loss brought out his true athleticism and that without it, he feels that he wouldn’t have played to the level worthy of a national title.

“A lot of people have misinformed ideas about what is actually healthy and what isn’t, but for me, I was blessed to have one of the best strength and conditioning coaches in the country,” he said.